During the days of cold war rivalry between the US and the then Soviet Union, now Russia, Soviet Union made an error of invading Afghanistan that changed the scene of world politics in the days to come. The Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan on December 24, 1979 to support the Afghan communist government that was fighting anti-communist guerrillas –later known as Mujahedeen.

One fact that is often discarded whenever Soviet invasion of Afghanistan is discussed is the way USSR was dragged in the conflict. It owed a lot to US designs as the former US National Security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski bragged about making Afghanistan the Soviet Union’s Vietnam. And his pompous comment was not a boastful comment.

Robert Gates, former CIA Director, argues that US began rebel forces in Afghanistan prior to Soviet assault. Brzezinski himself who said in a 1998 interview that he explained to Carter, the then US President, that the aid to Mujahedeen would induce a Soviet military intervention, corroborates Gates’ argument.

The tactic of arming resistance or rebel forces that the US still relies on as we have seen in the case of Libya and Syria. However, in both cases i.e. supplying weapons to Afghan fighters as well as Syrian rebels two terrorist groups emerged as a result of US policy, Taliban and ISIS which are now out of America’s control.